Roller-coaster ride but Singapore end on a high

A roller-coaster final day of the SEA Games bowling competition saw Singapore's women's team "start with a bang" before hanging on to retain their gold medal.

The quartet of sisters Cherie and Daphne Tan, New Hui Fen and Bernice Lim combined to roll 5,049 pinfalls and claim the title ahead of Malaysia (4,951) and Indonesia (4,843).

They had begun yesterday's second block at the Vincom Megamall Royal City's Heroworld Bowling Centre trailing the Malaysians by 63 pinfalls after struggling over the first three games on Wednesday. But a blistering start - they knocked down 965 pins - catapulted the Republic into the lead.

That 75-pinfall advantage was almost halved though after a disastrous fifth game - Daphne had a score of 161 while Lim rolled just 137 - but the four of them regrouped to finish on a high.

Lim, 30, who last won a Games gold in 2015 in the trios, said: "I'm happy to be a part of this group and to win the team gold with these girls. They had my back when things weren't going well so I'm very grateful for that.

"Everyone's going home with a medal this trip and that's all I could ever ask for."

While it was the first medal for her and Daphne, 31, in Hanoi, Cherie was collecting her third after bagging the singles title and doubles crown with New, 29.

Cherie, 33, said this team gold was "for the others back home as well" and added: "Today was bit of a roller coaster. We were behind the Malaysians so we came in fighting. We started really well, with a bang. In the second game, we ran into some problems but made sure that we stayed in the game, didn't dig a hole and we maintained it and after that in (the) last game, we went all out.

"I can't choose (which gold makes me the happiest) and I haven't thought about celebrations yet. Maybe I'll eat something nice and drink some bubble tea."

The men's team of Jaris Goh, Timothy Tham, Cheah Ray Han and Darren Ong settled for the bronze after racking up 4,963 pinfalls, finishing behind champions the Philippines (5,275) and runners-up Malaysia (5,162).

While Ong, 26, was disappointed they did not achieve their goal of winning the event, he said they were still satisfied to have won a medal. He noted: "Disappointment comes with any sport... but the good thing when you don't succeed is you learn from your mistakes.

"It's only through competitions that we know what mistakes we make under pressure, which is something training can't simulate."

The Republic finished as the top bowling nation with three gold, one silver and three bronze medals, a tally that Singapore Bowling Federation technical director Surein Sandrasageran was proud of, praising his athletes for their perseverance.

He said the team will be looking to improve their fitness among other aspects ahead of upcoming tournaments in Europe and the United States.

He said: "In bowling, it's all about the environment and adapting to change. We were a little slow on certain occasions to make tactical calls and some moves we made didn't give us the outcome we wanted.

"We faced some challenges but we came out strong so what we want to do is make those changes a bit faster and... analyse videos to find out what we can do better."